Artist league names February artist / Names in the news

By The Free Press

Published: Monday, January 21, 2013 at 08:44 PM.

Fundraiser to help SPCA

Martha Peoples Photography will be holding “Pet Days” Wednesday through Saturday at its facility, 4409 George Abbott Road, La Grange. This will be a fundraiser and food drive for the Lenoir County SPCA.

A 20-pound bag of dog or cat food and a $35 donation will pay for a one-hour photo session for a pet portrait. A free 5- x 7-inch photo of the “furry friend” will be included. There will be a Cutest Pet contest online where votes for the cutest pet from these sessions can be cast for a $1 a vote. This money will go directly to LCSPCA.

Prizes will be awarded for first-, second- and third-place winners. Prizes totaling more than $300 are being donated from Pet Sense of Kinston, The Dog House, The Village Steakhouse, Pet Supplies “Plus” of Goldsboro and Martha Peoples Photography of LaGrange.

Renee Herlong has been named by the Lenoir County Artist League as the featured “Artist of the Month” for February.

A member of the league, Herlong is an active artist creating works in a variety of 2-D mediums, including oils and pastels, and more recently, clay and pottery.

“I like how art can tell a story — like an old barn with vines that seem to be pulling it back into the earth, or shrimp boats napping at the dock after an early morning run out to sea,” Herlong said.

She is grateful to all her teachers — Penland class with John MacKah from Asheville, figure drawing at Emerge, arts center classes with Linda Clark, and national and regional workshops with Gretchen Kimball, Ruth Cox, David Dunlap, Bob Nelson, James Sulkowski, Diane Coidan, Mike Rooney and Melanie Waters.

Herlong likens rediscovering art to a feeling of coming home to herself, rather than finding a second (or third) career. She enjoys the creative process and giving up some control of the outcome; she is also learning silk painting with her daughters.

Fundraiser to help SPCA

Martha Peoples Photography will be holding “Pet Days” Wednesday through Saturday at its facility, 4409 George Abbott Road, La Grange. This will be a fundraiser and food drive for the Lenoir County SPCA.

A 20-pound bag of dog or cat food and a $35 donation will pay for a one-hour photo session for a pet portrait. A free 5- x 7-inch photo of the “furry friend” will be included. There will be a Cutest Pet contest online where votes for the cutest pet from these sessions can be cast for a $1 a vote. This money will go directly to LCSPCA.

Prizes will be awarded for first-, second- and third-place winners. Prizes totaling more than $300 are being donated from Pet Sense of Kinston, The Dog House, The Village Steakhouse, Pet Supplies “Plus” of Goldsboro and Martha Peoples Photography of LaGrange.

Call ahead of time to book the photo session, 252-566-0106.

Kinston man elected to state board

Christopher Seymour of Kinston was elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association at the 46th annual meeting Friday in Durham. Seymour will represent Greene, Lenoir, Wayne and Wilson counties.

Seymour’s responsibilities will include overseeing the soybean checkoff-funded research, marketing and communicating work of the association, and conducting advocacy work on behalf of the state’s soybean industry.